4 Keys for Cavs in Game 5 vs. Raptors: What happened to the pick-and-roll?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten away from what’s worked in games 1 and 2. The Toronto Raptors deserve a ton of credit for that. Their physicality with Cleveland’s star backcourt has made it difficult for the Cavs to establish any kind of momentum. At the same time, the Cavs simply need to be better.

Let’s get into what exactly they need to do in Game 5.

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1. Reestablish the James Harden pick-and-roll

The pick-and-roll has been a mainstay for the Cavs’ offense since the James Harden trade and was at the start of the series. In Game 1, Harden accumulated four assists out of the pick-and-roll with a big. By contrast, in Game 4, he only had one assist out of that action.

Going smaller and playing less drop coverage has hurt Cleveland’s ability to run the pick-and-roll. Instead of having Jakob Poeltl on Allen, RJ Barrett is the primary defender in the starting lineup. This easily allows the Raptors to switch the action, mitigating any advantage you’re trying to create with the screen.

The Cavs have countered by relying on more guard-on-guard screens. If you’re going to switch everything, you might as well use the guards to create favorable matchups. There’s solid rationale for this. The issue is, guards don’t have gravity going toward the rim. If you cause a momentary mismatch, it doesn’t break the defense because it’s always easier to recover side-to-side than it is to collapse and then try to get back out to shooters.

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In short, the guard-to-guard screens don’t generate looks going to the rim. Just somewhat stagnant outside looks.

It’s incredibly difficult to have a good offense if you can’t get anything going inside. Creating clean looks from the outside is predicated entirely on your ability to get to the basket. The Boston Celtics wouldn’t be the three-point shooting juggernaut they are if they didn’t have multiple ball handlers who could beat mismatches and create advantages going to the hoop.

Right now, the Cavs aren’t doing that. They need to get actions going north and south. And they also need to find ways to get Jamal Sheed off Harden. Being able to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/4-keys-cavs-game-5-100000585.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-29 10:00:00

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